This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming fiber panels and, more particularly, for forming fiber panels from fiber crop material such as rice, straw and the like.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,830 entitled FIBER PANEL MANUFACTURING METHOD AND APPARATUS(Hall), which issued Mar. 24, 1998, there is disclosed a method and apparatus for forming fiber panel members utilising fiber crop material. The contents of the ""830 patent are incorporated herein by reference. While the apparatus there disclosed has utility, certain deficiencies have been discovered since the filing of the application which resulted in the ""830 patent.
In the ""830 patent, the crop is placed in a debailler/shredder which is circular in nature and which rotates about a vertical axis. Knives are positioned beneath the bale placed in the debailler/shredder. The knives cut the material of the bales into fibers of adjustable length depending on the height of the knives extending into the cylinder. The material severed by the knives was then pneumatically conveyed to a feeder. The feeder used helical screw conveyors to move the fiber material to a compression area where the material was compressed by a reciprocating ram.
A first deficiency was that the use of the adjustable knives removed too much fiber from the material being pneumatically moved to the feeder; that is, the panels formed from the material transported to the compression area would lack sufficient fiber structure which structure was conducive to greater panel integrity.
A further deficiency was with the heated platens used to impart heat to the compressed fiber and cure the flue of the paper applied to the top and bottom of the formed fiber panels. The heated platens utilised plenum chambers. Hot gasses flowed through the plenum chambers. The use of such a structure had difficulties since the quickness of the heating suffered and the sufficiency of the temperatures obtained with the hot gasses was less than anticipated.
Yet a further problem with the apparatus of the ""830 patent was that the structure of the fiber panels became inconsistent. The inconsistency resulted from a greater or lesser amount of material being compressed by the reciprocating ram and then continuing down the curing table. The longer the length of compressed material for the panel members became, the more difficulty the ram had in moving the panel. This resulted in panels having lesser densities at the forward end of the panel and greater densities at the rearward end of the panel closer to the reciprocating ram.
Various other deficiencies were also revealed which it is intended to reduce or overcome with the improvements hereinafter described.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a fiber inlet area for bales of fiber material, a debailler area downstream from said fiber inlet area, straw walkers to convey said fiber material from said debailler area to a conveyor and a shredder area to shred said fiber material downstream of said straw walker.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for collecting seed and/or grain from a fiber panel forming assembly comprising straw walkers to convey fiber material from a fiber material inlet area to a conveyor assembly, a gathering member beneath said straw walkers and an auger beneath said gathering member for conveying said seed and/or grain to an air evacuation system, said air evacuation system moving said seed and/or grain to a storage area.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a conveyor for fiber material being conveyed from a shredder area to a packer area and a picker adjacent said conveyor at the downstream end of said conveyor and before said packer area, said picker having a series of protruding flexible and non-metallic fingers mounted on a rotatable cylindrical base, said fingers contacting said fiber material on said conveyor and transporting said fiber material to a chute leading to said packer area.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for curing glue on paper and applying heat to compressed fiber material beneath said paper, said fiber material having upper and lower surfaces, said apparatus comprising an upper and lower platen member operably contacting said paper on said upper and lower surfaces of said compressed fiber material, each of said upper and lower platen members having a plurality of grooves and heating elements in contact with said platen members within said grooves, said heating elements being longitudinal and extending substantially across said platen members, said heating of said platen members being obtained principally by conduction between said heating elements in contact with said platen members.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a conveyor, a chute downstream from said conveyor, a packer assembly to move fiber material from said chute to a compression area, a reciprocating ram to compress said material in said compression area and a fiber feed rake assembly for dislodging material in said chute, said fiber feed rake assembly comprising a plurality of protruding fingers on a longitudinally and generally vertically moving support framework, said protruding fingers extending intermittently into said chute during said longitudinal and generally vertical movement of said support framework.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a reciprocating ram assembly having a forward edge used to shear and compress fiber material used to form panel members in a fiber panel assembly apparatus and a complementary and stationary edge in said fiber panel assembly apparatus which cooperates with said forward edge of said reciprocating ram assembly during said shearing and compression operation, each of said forward edge of said ram assembly and said stationary edge of said fiber panel assembly apparatus being a sharpened cutting edge and used to shear said fiber material during said shearing and compression operation.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a pair of puller rolls for grasping and providing movement to a fiber panel formed by a reciprocating ram assembly, said puller rolls being brought into contacting relationship with said formed fiber panel and providing movement to said formed fiber panel downstream of said reciprocating ram assembly, said puller rolls being pneumatically driven.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a braking tensioner for a paper roll having a diameter, said paper roll containing paper being applied to substantially enclosed compressed fiber material used in forming a panel member, said braking tensioner having a first member for monitoring said diameter of said paper roll during operation of said paper roll and a pressure regulator for applying pressure to said braking tensioner and thereby increasing resistance to movement within said braking tensioner, said pressure regulator being dependent on the position of said first member, said braking tensioner applying greater resistance to rotation of said paper roll when said diameter is lesser and lesser resistance to rotation of said paper roll when said diameter is greater.